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^.v^Av3.
SOS IMPEACHMENT . . . SOS SOS MIDDLE EAST . . . S.O.S.
SAIGON . . . S.O.S. . . . SANTIAGO . . . SOS
WRL Staff Analysis
This is written in the midst of a turbulent six week period of crisis that has reached from Santiago to the Middle East to the
Oval Room of the White House in Washington. This analysis is an attempt to offer some general comments on the overall situation
as of October 25. However we do not need an analysis to know where we stand on war, or on attempted coups by the President.
Our job is not only to understand situations but to help change them. Analysis can carry us just so far and then it must be turned
into leaflets, letters, demonstrations, nonviolent action.
WASHINGTON D.C.
Political observers noted, less than a year ago, Nixon's remarkable run of luck. Peking received him despite his bombings of
Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Moscow received him despite his mining of Haiphong. The people gave him an extraordinary
electoral mandate, even though he had continued the agony of Vietnam four years longer than necessary. Everything seemed to be
going for him, from his success at foreign policy to McGovern's foul luck in choosing Eagleton. Even Watergate seemed contained,
a small cloud no larger than a man's hand, there on the distant political horizon in the summer of '72.
One feels now as if his luck had run out at last—or a true judgement come upon him. From the piece of tape over a door lock
in the Watergate complex, to the inadvertant admission by a witness that Nixon had recorded all White House conversations, to
the letter sent Judge Sirica by McCord, the smallest things have loomed into massive problems. Long before the explosive series of
events which broke in the nation's capitol on Saturday, October 20, the Administration was in shambles. For the first time in
history a Vice President had resigned as a convicted felon; most of Nixon's chief aides had resigned, been fired, were under
indictment, or facing sentence. The Administration which preached law and order, which locked up our people, which denounced
the concept of amnesty for those who resisted an immoral war—this was the very Administration that proved the most corrupt in
American history, and the first which had consciously sought to destroy in a systematic way the Bill of Rights. This was an
Administration which, as late as Saturday, October 20th, thought it could still deal with the people, the Congress, and the Courts
by fiat.
It is ironic that a politician whose napalm bombs in Vietnam made him a war criminal many times over should be on the brink
of losing his office over the matter of a few tapes which, reluctantly, he has finally agreed to surrender. But, however petty the
grounds may seem in contrast to the crimes committed during more than four years in office, he must lose that office or we have
lost our democracy.
Nixon's actions on October 20th amounted to an attempted coup. In refusing, at first, to turn over the tapes, he was defying a
federal court order. In firing Cox he was defying a Congress which had confirmed Richardson as Attorney General only after a
Presidential promise that Cox would be free to conduct a full investigation. In hastily agreeing—under an unprecedented avalanche
of public protest—to make the tapes available to Judge Sirica, he showed only contempt for the American public. His "absolute
principle' of the tapes, which he was prepared to defend to the end, crumbled when public anger mounted. As always in the past,
Nixon in crisis is a man without principle. In the meantime he has achieved his real purpose, which was the dismissal of Cox.
Electronic experts have long since agreed that modern technology makes the doctoring of the tapes not only easy—but that such
doctoring if properly done cannot be detected by any means known. Nixon has had the tapes in his possession—and they have
been in the possession of Haldeman—fully long enough for any necessary "corrections". As legal evidence they are now tainted.
That the target was Cox and the files compiled by "Cox's army" was demonstrated by the crude but effective dispatch of FBI
agents to seal off the offices of the Cox team. Had the agents been dressed as storm troopers they would not have been out of
place.
The League has warned repeatedly over the last decade of the profound danger of the military/industrial complex to our
institutions at home—as well as to peace abroad. The military now stands at Nixon's right and left hands. General Haig guards the
Presidential office and relays orders "from the Commander-in-Chief". Laird, former Defense Secretary, is the chief domestic
advisor and co-responsible with Nixon for lying about the illegal bombing in Cambodia. A Major General was on the staff of the
former Vice President. There has long been the smell of fascism about this Administration, the sense that Nixon sought to reduce
the Congress to the ceremonial assembly the Roman Senate finally became.
This has been an Administration as heartless toward the poor as it was friendly toward the rich. Nixon made a point of eating
grapes when Chavez was urging a boycott. Nixon's remarks about college war protesters being "a bunch of bums" created the
violent atmosphere which led to the killing of students at Kent and Jackson State in May of 1970. This Administration had ample
funds for generals and dictators in Saigon and Santiago, and ample funds for "welfare" payments to Lockheed and ITT. But it had
no funds for the poor, for school lunches, for education. Nixon is the man who phoned Rockefeller after the massacre at Attica to
congratulate him. This Administration could find $10 million of federal funds for "security improvements" at Nixon's homes in
Key Biscayne and San Clémente—but cut federal funds to improve the housing of the desperately poor.
It would, however, be wrong to put all the blame on one man, or to think that dumping the President would change the
system. Something is wrong with our system—and Nixon simply represents that system, is the agent of it. Removing Nixon is the
beginning of a process of deep social change—not a substitute for it. But it is a beginning—a necessary one. Let us close ranks.
Nixon Out Now.

Copyright belongs to the individuals who created them or the organizations for which they worked. We share them here strictly for non-profit educational purposes. If you believe that you possess copyright to material included here, please contact us at asklibrary@wisconsinhistory.org. Under the fair use provisions of the U.S. copyright law, teachers and students are free to reproduce any document for nonprofit classroom use. Commercial use of copyright-protected material is generally prohibited.

Copyright belongs to the individuals who created them or the organizations for which they worked. We share them here strictly for non-profit educational purposes. If you believe that you possess copyright to material included here, please contact us at asklibrary@wisconsinhistory.org. Under the fair use provisions of the U.S. copyright law, teachers and students are free to reproduce any document for nonprofit classroom use. Commercial use of copyright-protected material is generally prohibited.

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Full text

^.v^Av3.
SOS IMPEACHMENT . . . SOS SOS MIDDLE EAST . . . S.O.S.
SAIGON . . . S.O.S. . . . SANTIAGO . . . SOS
WRL Staff Analysis
This is written in the midst of a turbulent six week period of crisis that has reached from Santiago to the Middle East to the
Oval Room of the White House in Washington. This analysis is an attempt to offer some general comments on the overall situation
as of October 25. However we do not need an analysis to know where we stand on war, or on attempted coups by the President.
Our job is not only to understand situations but to help change them. Analysis can carry us just so far and then it must be turned
into leaflets, letters, demonstrations, nonviolent action.
WASHINGTON D.C.
Political observers noted, less than a year ago, Nixon's remarkable run of luck. Peking received him despite his bombings of
Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Moscow received him despite his mining of Haiphong. The people gave him an extraordinary
electoral mandate, even though he had continued the agony of Vietnam four years longer than necessary. Everything seemed to be
going for him, from his success at foreign policy to McGovern's foul luck in choosing Eagleton. Even Watergate seemed contained,
a small cloud no larger than a man's hand, there on the distant political horizon in the summer of '72.
One feels now as if his luck had run out at last—or a true judgement come upon him. From the piece of tape over a door lock
in the Watergate complex, to the inadvertant admission by a witness that Nixon had recorded all White House conversations, to
the letter sent Judge Sirica by McCord, the smallest things have loomed into massive problems. Long before the explosive series of
events which broke in the nation's capitol on Saturday, October 20, the Administration was in shambles. For the first time in
history a Vice President had resigned as a convicted felon; most of Nixon's chief aides had resigned, been fired, were under
indictment, or facing sentence. The Administration which preached law and order, which locked up our people, which denounced
the concept of amnesty for those who resisted an immoral war—this was the very Administration that proved the most corrupt in
American history, and the first which had consciously sought to destroy in a systematic way the Bill of Rights. This was an
Administration which, as late as Saturday, October 20th, thought it could still deal with the people, the Congress, and the Courts
by fiat.
It is ironic that a politician whose napalm bombs in Vietnam made him a war criminal many times over should be on the brink
of losing his office over the matter of a few tapes which, reluctantly, he has finally agreed to surrender. But, however petty the
grounds may seem in contrast to the crimes committed during more than four years in office, he must lose that office or we have
lost our democracy.
Nixon's actions on October 20th amounted to an attempted coup. In refusing, at first, to turn over the tapes, he was defying a
federal court order. In firing Cox he was defying a Congress which had confirmed Richardson as Attorney General only after a
Presidential promise that Cox would be free to conduct a full investigation. In hastily agreeing—under an unprecedented avalanche
of public protest—to make the tapes available to Judge Sirica, he showed only contempt for the American public. His "absolute
principle' of the tapes, which he was prepared to defend to the end, crumbled when public anger mounted. As always in the past,
Nixon in crisis is a man without principle. In the meantime he has achieved his real purpose, which was the dismissal of Cox.
Electronic experts have long since agreed that modern technology makes the doctoring of the tapes not only easy—but that such
doctoring if properly done cannot be detected by any means known. Nixon has had the tapes in his possession—and they have
been in the possession of Haldeman—fully long enough for any necessary "corrections". As legal evidence they are now tainted.
That the target was Cox and the files compiled by "Cox's army" was demonstrated by the crude but effective dispatch of FBI
agents to seal off the offices of the Cox team. Had the agents been dressed as storm troopers they would not have been out of
place.
The League has warned repeatedly over the last decade of the profound danger of the military/industrial complex to our
institutions at home—as well as to peace abroad. The military now stands at Nixon's right and left hands. General Haig guards the
Presidential office and relays orders "from the Commander-in-Chief". Laird, former Defense Secretary, is the chief domestic
advisor and co-responsible with Nixon for lying about the illegal bombing in Cambodia. A Major General was on the staff of the
former Vice President. There has long been the smell of fascism about this Administration, the sense that Nixon sought to reduce
the Congress to the ceremonial assembly the Roman Senate finally became.
This has been an Administration as heartless toward the poor as it was friendly toward the rich. Nixon made a point of eating
grapes when Chavez was urging a boycott. Nixon's remarks about college war protesters being "a bunch of bums" created the
violent atmosphere which led to the killing of students at Kent and Jackson State in May of 1970. This Administration had ample
funds for generals and dictators in Saigon and Santiago, and ample funds for "welfare" payments to Lockheed and ITT. But it had
no funds for the poor, for school lunches, for education. Nixon is the man who phoned Rockefeller after the massacre at Attica to
congratulate him. This Administration could find $10 million of federal funds for "security improvements" at Nixon's homes in
Key Biscayne and San Clémente—but cut federal funds to improve the housing of the desperately poor.
It would, however, be wrong to put all the blame on one man, or to think that dumping the President would change the
system. Something is wrong with our system—and Nixon simply represents that system, is the agent of it. Removing Nixon is the
beginning of a process of deep social change—not a substitute for it. But it is a beginning—a necessary one. Let us close ranks.
Nixon Out Now.